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My point is that the increase to $15/hr is legislated so who is going to do the same for the poor bloke making $37,000/yr? No, his salary is still going to stay $37k, however it will create a HUGE disincentive to get a degree and bust his behind if he is going to make only 7k more than someone who has no skills more than moving their arms and legs.
Ultimately it is supply and demand. If most accountants end up flipping burgers, there will be a shortage of accountants (willing to work at this price level) so accounting companies will be forced to offer them better salaries.
And accounting companies will either have to take a hit in profitability, or reduce the pay of their CEOs and directors, or will have to pass it on to customers. And if customers are unwilling to pay this much more (would rather use an online tool), then in reality, there was little value the accountant was adding anyway compared to an online tool. And so their job is really no better than that of a burger flipper. Their job might be significantly more skilled but it adds little extra value to the customer, and in the end, that is what matters. In other words, the customer would rather buy a burger than pay 5 dollars extra for an accountant to do his taxes.
And accounting companies will either have to take a hit in profitability, or reduce the pay of their CEOs and directors, or will have to pass it on to customers.
that's exactly it though... they will pass it onto consumers and it creates inflation. Price of goods and service increase so what is the net effect..nothing! The minimum wage guys are now making $15/hr but the cost of everything went up by 30%, so we are then back to square one.
The guys can't afford rent so the theory is that we should bump the minimum wage up so they can afford rent but guess what rental housing supply is a finite resource and now there are more people competing for a finite resource, that drives up rental price so again back to square one as affordability suffers because the rents have gone up lockstep with the minimum wage.
The problem is that you and a bunch of others on this thread (including OP) feel the need to compare. Instead of asking why a health care worker earns less than a lawyer, or that a soldier earns less than a programmer, perhaps the real question is - is the health care worker, the soldier, the lawyer, and the programmer earning enough to ensure basic human dignity?
By basic human dignity, I mean ability to get nutrition (food) for oneself and one's family, a place to live, healthcare and medicine, education, clothing, heat in the winter. You know - stuff that we all probably consider as essentials for a human to live as a human. With a modicum of dignity.
Wow, there is dignity in living off taxpayers now? That's pathetic
Wow, there is dignity in living off taxpayers now? That's pathetic
The family that has 7 kids attending free school is also living off your hard earned tax dollars.
The family that is consuming 10x the water as their next door neighbor because they have a swimming pool in their house is also freeloading.
People who are using roads far more than others are also freeloading.
People who are using the library more than others are also freeloading.
And yes, if medical service was entirely free and funded by the govt (as it is in most Western Europe), then people who use it more than others are also freeloading.
And here's the kicker. If Jack earns 5 times what Peter earns, Jack is also paying roughly 5 times more tax. So Peter and Mary and Jane and Keshawn and Julio - all who are paying significantly less tax than Jack - are all freeloaders who are mooching off on Jack's hard earned tax dollars.
So if you talk about dignity, where is the dignity in paying a measly $10k in taxes when someone else is paying $100k? To them, $10k is closer to zero than it is to $100k - so to them, middle class tax payers and poor who pay zero taxes are pretty much the same. One is slightly a bit less of a freeloader than the other, but not a big difference.
My only point here was - do you expect everyone around you to have basic dignity of life or not. This is literally the difference between a developed first world country and a third world country. I'm not even saying that we need to provide free housing or free money. But jeez man, if someone falls ill or if someone's kid is sick or if someone needs to just survive, personally, I don't know... it feels wrong to build massive libraries or next gen fighter jets than even do this basic stuff for other humans.
But jeez man, if someone falls ill or if someone's kid is sick or if someone needs to just survive, personally, I don't know... it feels wrong to build massive libraries or next gen fighter jets than even do this basic stuff for other humans.
My elderly mother, worked for 20+ years, supported herself. Now that she is 75, had a stroke, needs help and is poor because of medical bills, she can't get a dime of help. She is a measly $5.82 a month of qualifying for help. But mind you, dead beat Johnny, couldn't hold a job, his job is looking for the next fix, drinking and laughing at us fools supporting his ass. He'll get all the help, free medical care, free food and on and on.
I have no sympathy for them. The system is screwed up. They claim there is a safety net for people if they fall on hard times but I've learned that is not true. It's only people who've been on the dole from cradle who gets help to the grave. The middle class is screwed and don't know it yet.
Here is how the middle class is screwed. You work all your lives, paying taxes, contributing to SS. But when you become elderly and ill your SS check is too high and disqualifies you from getting help because the income limit is set so low. It's a sheer drop off, $1.00 above the income limit and you qualify for nada, nothing, no help. But hey, lets pay dead beats way all their lives.
Middle class, look into medicare, medicaid, you better be saving your asses off because your screwed.
And for the record, I have a business degree, from a good school, and have years of work experience, and am still making less than $15.00 an hour. So even getting that degree isn't getting people jobs that pay enough to survive.
I have no degree and I make over $30/hr in a stable field of employment. Maybe people need to become specialized in things that not everyone can do, and they'll be rewarded accordingly.
I thought the whole $15/hr nonsense had died out but it seems a lot of politicians and groups are still fighting for it. From a purely logical standpoint the whole $15/hr demand makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
The minimum wage guy gets a raise to $15/hr so then what happens to the guy/gal with a little more skill currently making $15/hr, does he get a commensurate raise to $20/hr? So then the guy with a bit more skill than that who is making $20/hr is going to revolt and demand $25/hr... so what you have here is the whole hierarchy moving upwards.
The increase in salary without a corresponding efficiency/productivity increase in the economy creates nothing but pure inflation so the net effect is absolutely and virtually nothing.
Instead of increasing minimum wage focus on improving productivity, encourage people to get more skills. Improve upward mobility by providing easier access to education. Increasing minimum wage is not the answer to current social problems.
It's absurd that such a large proportion of the general populace and people like Bernie Sanders and other politicians do not understand such basic concepts.
I agree. And the other big problem is to focus on building more housing in high cost areas where $15 is being pushed. The guy/gal making the bottom of the wage scale is always going to be outbid for housing, everyone's largest expense, if they don't build enough housing to keep up with demand.
Many of these Bernie Sanders folks are total hypocrites. They'll vote for a minimum wage increase because they don't perceive it as coming out of their pockets. But they'll fight tooth and nail when new housing is proposed and they really don't care if the NIMBY policies they push for drive up the cost of housing for the poor and the working class.
Ben Carson has an idea about a double-tiered minimum wage that
makes more sense.
For example, teenagers shouldn't make the same MW as a 60-year old.
Yes, even IF they do the same job.
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